The path of the artist is a difficult and indirect road. Sometimes it takes years of painful search, a lot of work to improve mastery, choose your style, your images, your stories. The creative path of Helium Korzhev was difficult. Striving for conciseness and expressiveness, he excludes everything that he believes is superfluous, and his characters occupy the entire space of the picture. What did the artist want to express with his works, what are they about? We will talk about this in the article.
Biography of Helium Korzhev
July 7, 1925 in Moscow, a boy was born to the family of a park architect and teacher. His name was given to Helium, which means "sunny." In the Korzhev family, two more girls were later born. From an early age, the boy grew up in an atmosphere of art. The talent for drawing appeared in Helium in childhood. Korzhev came to the art studio when he was barely eleven years old. This was the class of A.P. Sergeeva, a student of V.A. Serov. In the newly opened professional secondary school, Korzhev was admitted to the third grade in 1939.
Having learned about the beginning of the war, Helium Korzhev, along with his comrades, goes to field exercises near Smolensk, enrolling in sniper courses. However, he did not go to war, as it was decided to evacuate the school with teachers in Bashkiria. The school was located in the village of Voskresenskoye. After being evacuated until 1944 and returning to Moscow with the school, Helium wrote in his diaries that being in the village and communicating directly with nature included the awareness of the future artist that beauty is in the people and nature surrounding the children. This determined the further path of development of the school itself and many students were given direction in their work.
Study at the institute
In 1944, study at school ended. The final exams of the pupils of the school were an exhibition of their works performed in the evacuation. As a result, the selection committee of the Moscow State Art Institute took all first-year school graduates without entrance exams to the first year. Korzhev had excellent teachers, such as S.V. Gerasimov and V.V. Pochitalov. Korzhev combined his studies at the institute with his work at the Pushkin Museum, where he helped to disassemble the saved paintings of the Dresden Gallery.
In 1946, Geliy Mikhailovich started a family with Kira Vladimirovna Bakhteeva, a student in the acting department of GITIS. Two daughters were born in the family.
Teaching job
After receiving higher education and the title of artist, Helium Korzhev was invited in 1951 by his teacher, S.V. Gerasimov, to the Stroganov School to engage in teaching activities in junior courses. As Korzhev wrote in his diaries, when you teach others, you learn yourself. While teaching, he acts as an organizer of exhibitions in Moscow and takes part in them. The paintings of Helia Korzheva the audience accepted favorably. In 1952, the artist tried himself as an illustrator. This is his illustrations accompany the fairy tale "On the Boy-Kibalchish."
Painting "In the days of war"
In 1954, the first finished painting by Gely Mikhailovich "In the days of the war" was released. She was on display at the Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists of the USSR. The painting was highly appreciated by both artists and visitors. S.V. Gerasimov noted that the artist has taken place and owns the skill of a strong drawing.
On his recommendation, Korzheva is admitted to the Moscow Union of Artists (MOA) without the necessary passing of a candidate's experience. The painting "In the days of the war" in 1955 is exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery. As a member of the Union of Artists, Helium Korzhev is actively involved in organizing annual exhibitions at the Ministry of Agriculture. Such exhibitions were necessary for young aspiring artists, since it was from them that the artists received vouchers for life.
Themes of the post-war years
The generation of post-war artists matured. The war could not but amend its concept of "socialist realism." More truth appeared in the works of artists. Gradually, a wave of praise leaves the paintings of those years, and people, their life, their way of life, become the central place in the work of artists of the Korzhev generation. Helium Mikhailovich participates in exhibitions with his paintings "Left" and "Came from a construction site." At the same time, he does not stop working on the started paintings "Morning" and "Typist", which were released in 1957 at regular exhibitions in Moscow. Over the course of the year, these paintings were exhibited at several other exhibitions of the capital.
First triptych
In addition to exhibitions in the Soviet Union, Korzhev takes an active part in creative business trips from the Union of Artists in Italy, and then in Syria and Lebanon. At the same time, he was elected a member of the Board of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1958, the first of the paintings of the triptych "Communists" conceived by the artist was exhibited at the next Moscow exhibition. This is the International. By 1960, work on the triptych was coming to an end. This painting receives great fame and brings its author an award - the Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Arts.
The work on conceived by two more paintings is nearing completion. This is “Lovers” and “Artist”. His painting "Lovers" was highly appreciated. The press noted that Korzhev in his picture showed a deep mood, and, as always, remained true to his view of human destinies.
Creativity of the 60s and 90s
In the 60s, Korzhev works in Moscow as the head of the creative studio of the Academy of Arts and visits France and the UK as part of creative business trips. In the 70s he visited Italy and Spain with exhibitions held in the cities of these countries. In 1972, Korzhev Geliy Mikhailovich was awarded the honorary title "People's Artist of the RSFSR". Being from 1968 to 1976 the chairman of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR, Korzhev assembled a team of young artists with new ideas and methods for the development of art. New names appear at exhibitions. 1979 brought Korzhev a new title - "People's Artist of the USSR." "It is difficult to combine public work, the organization of exhibitions and pedagogical activity with creative work," Korzhev wrote in his diaries.
In 1986, he completed his teaching career. In the same year, in the spring, the artist’s mother passed away, and in the winter, her father. Helium Mikhailovich delved into the work on a series of paintings of the "Bible" series. In 1991, the artist refused to be elected president of the USSR Academy of Arts. He believes that it is necessary to deal with the main business of his life - the creation of paintings. Young people have enough energy to combine several works in themselves, but the time comes when you need to leave something that brings spiritual satisfaction, and this is activity on the canvas in your workshop.
The last paintings of the artist
After the collapse of the communist regime, Geliy Mikhailovich worked in his workshop, creating new paintings, participating in exhibitions. This continues for 21 years until his death. Over the years have been written and presented to the public:
- The cycle "About Don Quixote".
- The "Household" series was replenished with the paintings "Rise, Ivan!" and the "Lodger".
- The work of the "Bible" series is completed.
The artworks continue to participate in exhibitions at home and abroad. The artist shares his thoughts about the fact that a lot of paintings were created that went to foreign collections, some of which were lost. But Helium Mikhailovich believed that somewhere they live and continue to serve people. The last paintings of the artist were the "Prophet", "Last Hours on Earth" and "Winner". On August 27, 2012, the heart of Helium Mikhailovich Korzhev stopped.
Helium Mikhailovich is buried at the Alekseevsky cemetery in Moscow. The authors of the tombstone are daughter Irina and grandson Ivan Korzhevy.